Matthew 10:24-39
Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea
Prayer
We know that the verses just read revealed the things that Jesus kept deep in his heart.
Father, Jesus was to bring an end to the four-thousand-year providential history. He was to lead the many Israelites, build the altar of victory before the Father, and restore everything on that altar of glory as the chief priest. Yet we know that he died without fulfilling this historic mission.
Father, although two thousand years have passed since Jesus, please allow us to picture Jesus' situation at that time. It is said that these are the Last Days. We know through the phenomena unfolding in our lives that the time is near when we can eliminate all sinful elements.
Looking at this and at all the phenomena of the world, we conclude that these are the Last Days. At this moment, when all unfolding signs are foretelling the Last Days, what should we possess? What should we feel? What should we be proud of? We should not pursue any power of this world, anything material, nor anything that has to do with people's character. The only thing is to resemble Jesus Christ who lived two thousand years ago. Please allow us to reflect upon how we have to make his heart, desires and situation our own and lay the foundation for the fulfillment of his wishes.
In his time, Jesus appeared to be a humble man. He appeared to be inferior to John the Baptist. John the Baptist came before the Israelite people who were gathering to be baptized in accordance with the new law and appeared to be a great personality. The Israelites honored him as a prophet.
When Jesus emerged as someone who seemed inferior to John the Baptist, the people could not believe him. He was opposed wherever he went. Those who followed Jesus were a lowly group of women and tax collectors. When we think about this, we can sense the most sorrowful historical reality, that there was no true son or daughter of Heaven who could honor Jesus as the Lord.
Heaven needed those who could believe in Jesus as God's only begotten son and the Savior, lowly in social status and unpolished though he might be. Please allow us to be in tune with the heart of that time and bow our heads humbly before Jesus. Let us receive Heaven's instructions in the midst of God's love.
I am about to convey the truth of the Father. If there is a gap between the mind of the speaker and the minds of the listeners, that will be the basis for Satan's action and a condition which will block the gates of our life. We know that if that is to be the outcome, it is better not to listen to the words at all.
Please allow us to open our hearts wide, to cleanse ourselves of our own thoughts and concepts, and to entrust our minds and bodies to the Father's movement of life. Let us be in harmony with the Father's will.
I sincerely pray that with the power of the words of re-creation You will let us experience the center of life and rise up as the life itself before the Father's will during this hour.
We entrust everything to You. Please govern us. Please let all the beloved members dwell in the same state of grace. We prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.
The title of the sermon I am about to give is "Let Us Fathom the Heart of Heaven." I will speak briefly upon this topic.
The Relationship between Human Beings and the Absolute Being
The most lonely person in the world is someone who has no one who recognizes or understands him. There is nothing more lonely and sad than to have no one who understands you. You may think that you fully understand yourself, but if you examine yourself objectively, you probably must admit that you do not.
We all have minds. Our mind is driving us toward a certain direction and toward a greater truth every minute of the day, transcendent of time and space. It is probably difficult to explain why this internal action has not taken root in us, although we sense that it has continued throughout history.
You may want to ask others to understand you and believe in you. You probably cannot deny that all your thoughts and convictions have been for the sake of connecting to a certain reality. If you then ask others to believe in you and trust you, you should ask whether or not you have first gained control over yourself and secured a position that is connected to the great purpose of Heaven. The answer is probably no.
Given this, how can we determine our own value today? We cannot accomplish a great purpose unless we first have the desire to become the subject partner who can move all things. We must examine ourselves as we put this desire into action and criticize ourselves with cold objectivity. If there is a God who seeks to fulfill the purpose of Heaven, then we cannot come before Him proudly without having done these things. Based on our own rational reasoning, we cannot deny that we cannot have pride in front of Heaven.
Who are our faith, desires and ideals for? Although they may seem to be for our own selves, in truth they do not have any relationship with us. Because human beings are in such a sad situation, although we may possess ideals and desires in our hearts, they clash with the sad reality of ourselves. We know through our reading of the Bible that this is why prophets and saints in the past advocated that we seek to embody ideals in our lives and be in harmony with them. They struggled bitterly to realize this goal, yet they could not accomplish it. We are awaiting the day this goal can be reached.
Everything in the universe, including human beings, was created to be in reciprocal relationships. If there is Heaven, then there is also earth. If there is a mind, then there is also a body. When we ponder things from this worldview, we find that if there is a movement of the heart, there must also be some subject partner who can move the mind. Whether you call this absolute being God, the Creator, or a deity is not important. At the very least, no one can deny that such a being must exist. If there is an absolute being, that absolute being has to have some connection to our minds in our daily lives as history flows. This is why human beings are capable of wishing for truer and better things.
Before we criticize or make a judgment based upon some reality, we first have to make some reciprocal condition based upon which to make the comparison. To make a logical argument, we need some basis of assumption first.
For this reason, in order to understand ourselves and explain ourselves fully, we need some reciprocal condition upon which to criticize and judge. This is the absolute being who is the object of worship in our faith. When we enter into a relationship with Him and compare ourselves and evaluate ourselves based on Him, we can understand where we stand. Thus, if we have minds, we have first to feel that there is some absolute being or some subject partner who governs our minds and moves us.
The absolute being is the ultimate goal which religions and philosophies should reach. The countless sages and saints sought longingly for the absolute being with whom they could build an eternal relationship of heart and with whom they could live, on whom they could base all their thoughts, worldviews and ideologies. Such are the numerous people who seek religion. That is what they are looking for.
To Understand Ourselves Completely
To understand ourselves, we have to understand the value of those we are in relationship with. Our minds do not create the truths and ideologies that our actions are based upon. First, we have to put ourselves in a position where we can feel that we are in a relationship with someone or something.
When God comes to us, He always comes in front of us. That which is good will not come from the side, but from the front.
Then where are we going to set the standard of knowledge? If what comes in front of us can connect everything, all knowledge, and can move the world of the conscience, then we have to understand that this is the one standard which can explain us. When you understand this, you will see people in a different light.
Many believers today boast of their faith: "I understand God, I believe in God, I rely on God." Yet if we were to ask what the origin of their knowledge is, in what environment they uphold their faith, and what situation their life of faith in God is in, we find that unless they are in an eternal relationship with their minds, none of them will be recognized by God, trusted by God or blessed with God's intervention.
God chose the Israelites as His chosen people. God raised them up out of many peoples to love only Him. How do you think God raised them up? He related to them head on. God shortens the distance of the relationship and drives history into an environment where He can have an intimate relationship with people.
Jesus said when he came to the earth, "I am in you, you are in me, the Father is in me and I am in the Father, so the Father is also in you." For what purpose did God choose the Israelites and guide them? It was to bring them into a straight linear line and make the condition upon which He could say, "You are Me and I am you." We have to understand that this is the relationship of knowledge God has sought.
Due to the Fall, human beings deviated from the position where God can relate with them head on. Human beings who relate with God head on with respect to their desires, situations and hearts are people of original value.
Due to the Fall, human beings' desires, situations and hearts went awry, so they were chased out of Heaven. All the countless people who ever lived, from the first human ancestors to now, did not have the right desires, situations and hearts. In other words there was no one in history who said, "I can move Heaven and earth." Your desires are twisted, your situations are wrong, and your hearts are facing the wrong direction.
What kind of descendants are we? Fundamentally, we are the descendants propagated from the point of origin with different desires, different situations and different hearts. In other words we have not become people who can stand in front of God with the desires, situations and hearts that God wants to see. If we do not know what state our desires, situations and hearts are in, then we do not understand ourselves.
The Desires, Situations and Hearts of Fallen People
Heaven revealed to fallen humanity that what human beings desire and hope for is not the earth, nor any great saint on the earth; it is God. God rejects humans living on the earth in a chaotic situation. Why? It is because they are false. Hence, God has been devising a solution. Historically, religions have shouldered the mission to turn this situation around and create a heavenly situation on God's behalf. The lives of religious people have pioneered the path of conscience centering on these religions.
Have you returned your desires, situations and hearts to God? You have not. Jesus, who understood this, looked at this world and tried to bring all of humanity to God's side: to new desires, new situations, and a new world of heart. Because he came to the earth with such a responsibility, we may call him the center of hope, the center of situations and the center of heart or love.
This is the reason that no one can boast proudly about his own desires and heart before Jesus. Are they the desires that God wants him to have? Is he in the situation God wanted him to be in? Does he have the heart that came from God? The answers to these questions will be negative.
What is the crucial issue for us? What is the desire of human beings? You can understand yourselves only when you have answers to these questions. We have to understand the situations of people living today; we have to understand the problems concerning heart. To understand them we need to find some reciprocal standard. Religions have presented this standard, no matter how unclear it may be. What kind of people are we, the descendants of fallen people? We are the people who betrayed Heaven. We frustrated God's desires, undermined God's situation, blocked God's heart and betrayed Him over and over again. Because humanity stands in such a position, although they may be living in a world of some desire, situation and heart, other thoughts enter into their minds. Those who feel the intense pain arising from this conflict choose between death and God. The intelligent, the wise and the serious have sought this path even at the risk of their lives.
What feelings should we have? How should we understand God and ourselves? We are the descendants of those who betrayed God. Who would ever contest this? We are the descendants of the traitors who betrayed Heaven. However, our minds are communicating with the original world. We do not communicate frequently, but at certain times we do. Your bodies are made up of the flesh and blood of traitors against Heaven. What are we going to do about that?
Heaven does not judge us because He hates us. The purpose of God's dispensation is to strike Satan, who caused all of this, the one who reigns in evil and betrayed God. God's intention is not to throw us into the kiln of death; His purpose is to vanquish Satan, who has been trampling upon human beings and who brought great confusion to this land.
Therefore, God has been warning you through your minds and telling you to embark upon this path; to avoid certain paths and go forward to fight against your enemies. For those who have strong consciences, the more they go, the more they will be warned to leave the place. It is not the original purpose of human beings born on this earth to become the prisoners of enemy devils.
What is the original purpose of God's creating human beings? It is so that they may be the true sons and daughters of God. The original relationship between God and us is the inseparable relationship of parent and child. Human beings, who should build this relationship, are enslaved in a death-like despair and do not realize this fact. They have no idea how they should act under these circumstances.
If someone comes before these human beings with original desires, situations and a worldview based on the heart and instructs us how to return to our original homeland, he is certainly the savior of hope, the savior of the situation, and the savior of heart. Isn't that so? To live we need three elements: desire, situation and heart. You have a certain situation, certain desires, and a certain heart. In one sense the lives of human beings are a game in which our lives depend on our desire, situation and heart.
For this reason, since their present life is painful, what human beings want is to find the world of new hope, a new situation and new heart. Fallen human beings want the original world.
What Kind of Person Is the Savior?
There may be some people among you who are proud of themselves, but you should reflect upon yourselves and criticize yourselves objectively. Those who are proud will be defeated. Because this world is evil, those who are proud of themselves will meet such a fate. You should live according to your conscience. Those who try to lead their lives according to their consciences will rise up one day, after the era of evil people's influence passes. Although this is a little-known fact, there will be living historical proof of this. The moment such an event takes place in Heaven and earth on the world scale, evil will recede and goodness will come.
Heaven sought us out. We human beings have been seeking for God for the last six thousand years. We thought that the desires God established were the true desires, that the salvation Jesus gave us was a complete salvation, and that the love that Jesus demonstrated was the love which could connect us to the true heart.
Even then we were not able to say from the moment we began believing in Jesus, "Desires of the world, begone from me; situations of the world, begone from me; the heart of the world, begone from me." We have not been able to transcend that limitation. Jesus was to bring a revolution to this sinful world. He should have built a world of new desires, new situations and a new heart. This was Jesus' mission.
We Live in a World of Suffering
Human beings are living in a world of suffering. They are fighting fierce battles between mind and body. The world of the body is a substantial world; hence, all one's experiences in it are concrete. Thus, no matter how strong one's mind may be, one is captured by the stimulation of this substantial world.
To the grief of the mind, the body is weak. Why is this? This is because the emotions one feels in this physical world, the stimulations to your body coming from all around, are strong. In contrast, the stimulation that the mind feels does not come from one's surroundings but from one direction. Because the stimulation of the body is stronger than the stimulations of the mind, the latter are cut off and suppressed. We cannot deny that this sad reality overwhelms our minds. When stimulation comes to our minds, it does not come from our surroundings. It does not come from behind or from the sides; it comes from the front.
For this reason, even if you are living in the evil world, you sometimes long for some vague thing, even unconsciously. Those who lead a religious life suddenly feel the urge to pray. All of this is because of the functioning of the mind. If the mind has a door, as we open the door and allow the relationship of Heaven to enter through it, we will feel the stimulations of the mind and pursue that world. We should understand this.
Although evil is omni-directional and attacks us through concrete forms, God comes to us from one direction through the bottom of our mind. Yet we have wronged this God so many times. This is why you are traitors who are not worthy to stand before God. You probably cannot deny this.
Human beings live under Satan's prison of death, under the reign of Satan. We who should live under the reign of God and become citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven live under the rule of Satan as his captives. We are like prisoners of war. This is the situation we are in.
Still, deep inside our minds there are certain movements which can connect us to the truth, situation and heart of our original homeland. God created human beings so that these movements can explode in our minds and freely influence our bodies and bring all of Heaven and earth to submission.
We are living a life of battle to follow the movement of the mind, which is as faint as a strand of thread, in search of the direction of goodness and to make goodness concrete. Satan attacks us from three directions here. He enters us with good material things, power and position in this world. The religious path is the course of constant fighting to cut off from these things. This is why it is written that we should pray constantly. The moment we pray, we are fighting.
From this perspective Jesus looked upon human beings, who have become prisoners of Satan, and shouldered the responsibility to destroy the realm of Satan. It is my plan to form a special troop in this evil world for the purpose of laying the foundation upon which to dismantle Satan's world. The Israelites were chosen to serve as the basis upon which God could restore this world. Nevertheless, the people were ignorant of this truth.
God's Dispensation through Abraham and His Family
During the two thousand years from Abraham to Jesus, God established faith as the condition for the Israelites. If individuals believed, they could graduate from that level and pioneer the foundation upon which families could believe. If a family believed, then God elevated a people to the next level of pioneering the foundation upon which a nation could believe. If a nation believed, He took them further and pioneered the foundation upon which the world could believe. You have to understand this.
What kind of person was Abraham, the father of faith, whom God chose? In our terms today, he was a spy in Satan's world who could communicate with God as an individual. Since the world belonged to Satan, no one received Abraham warmly. Because everyone was his enemy, he had to use discretion when he heard and saw things. He had to use wise judgment in his thoughts and be cautious in his actions.
When he was eating a meal or sleeping, he could not be at ease. In his daily life, he always had to pay close attention to the people around him. This is the path our ancestors who upheld God's providence and will walked.
God called Abraham, whom He chose, from Ur of the Chaldeans and put him in such a situation. He drove him out to the wilderness. There Abraham awaited the coming of the day when God's reign could be established. We have to understand that our ancestors left their homeland waiting for the day that the sons and daughters whom God had blessed would multiply and fill the earth like the stars in the sky and smite the evil world.
Why? Since we are enslaved in the country of our enemies, inside their prison bars, we should feel thoroughly disgusted. If you cannot feel this, then you are not worthy to be called true believers before Heaven.
For what purpose did God raise Abraham? It was to use him as a channel to communicate with people far away, those who were in the enemy's camp and in Satan's world. Then he was to expand outward horizontally on that basis. However, because the relationship between Heaven and earth is fragile, God had to work through the direct lineage of Abraham, referring to Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You have to understand this.
When Isaac and Abraham received the blessing, what did they possess? The only thing they had was their qualification as the chosen people. God blessed Abraham on the condition, "You cannot compromise with Satan's world. You cannot blend in with Satan's world. You are My chosen people. Your life is different, your feelings, desires and ideals are all different. Your descendants will live only if they bring victory through Me." Abraham had to bless Isaac from this perspective. Isaac blessed Jacob from this same perspective, and Jacob blessed his descendants in the same way. Nonetheless, the Israelites betrayed this connection which came down to them through their tradition and blessing.
After Abraham was chosen, he pioneered the individual environment of faith. Then Jacob took seventy members of his family and entered Egypt. What did God do based on this foundation of a family? He chased them out into Satan's world in order to form a people. It was not their own country; it was the center of Satan's world. God drove them into Egypt, Satan's world, the historical enemies of the Israelites. Isn't this true?
Based on this foundation of a family, they were to endure any kind of suffering, any path of death and grief. They had to endure to the point of forming a nation. Even as the Israelites suffered in a foreign land for four hundred years, they were to maintain an intense desire that God should be relieved of His suffering. However, although the four-thousand-year history passed, the Israelites deviated from the traditional desires, situations and heart of God. Moses was the person who came to resolve this situation. Moses was the leader of the 600,000 Israelites. He was the leader of the people.
The Root of Israel's Decline
What did God intend to do with this foundation of a people? He tried to use the people as a base to expand out to the world. For this reason God promised the chosen people that He would send them a Messiah who could lead the people to build a new kingdom and who would become the King of Kings. He gave this promise based on the foundation of the people.
This was not based on Abraham or Jacob, but the people after Moses. However, the people did not know that the Messiah who was sent as the prince of the world, who was to be assisted by them in dismantling the reign of Satan, who was to lay a foundation of victory for Heaven, was the one who was sent.
From what perspective did the Israelites long for the Messiah? They should have had the clear conviction that they were the chosen people for God's providence who were to unite and pioneer the world to conquer Satan's world when the Messiah appeared. If they had felt so and had been deeply indignant about living in Satan's world, they never would have killed Jesus.
Jesus came to this earth. What was his desire? He was not concerned about himself, nor about his twelve disciples, nor about the seventy followers. He focused his efforts upon the whole Israelite people. Jesus was to rule the chosen people, bringing them together to build a new blessed land of Canaan. He was to blow the heralding trumpets to set out for the blessed land of Canaan on the world level. The sorrowful fact that Jesus was chased out from his position as the leader of the people was the root of Israel's decline.
Until now people have thought that Jesus came to die. When you examine things more deeply, you will find that this is not true. We need brave soldiers who can fight for Heaven. Isn't that logical?
Through the four-thousand-year history, God built something comparable to a communications center and a military headquarters to communicate with Satan's world. Yet all of these were destroyed. Although He sent Jesus based on the foundation of four thousand years of hard work on the part of the people, they turned against him. Can there be a king without a people to rule, once the foundation of the people is destroyed? For this reason Satan's world did what it wanted to him; that was his death on the cross. It was the miserable execution of a prince. Yet the people did not know that Jesus' death on the cross was the miserable execution of the prince of Israel.
Where was he killed? He was killed under the sovereignty of Satan. If you want to learn about this in greater detail, come and see me when you have time. This is how it is. This is why God is furious. Jesus said that although he was going to have to suffer death, he would give us the secret documents of a new covenant, secret messages from Heaven. These are the New Testament Gospels.
"Believe me. You will live when you believe me and follow me. If you believe me, where will you go? To the place of liberation. You will live only if you believe me. Believe. I came for you and am dying for you, so believe in me and in the words I have spoken." Jesus' words are the words of promise which will give us life. The words of the Bible are secret codes. They are the codes by which Heaven can communicate with us in Satan's world. They are written in symbols and parables. Hence, no matter how much you read, you will not fully understand. There will come a day when these codes can be deciphered, so we have to demonstrate utmost loyalty and exert ourselves. What did Jesus want? It was to rely on the people to establish the ideal of the restoration of the world. Since no thought or doctrine of the world could explain this, he promised that one day he would unravel the secret documents and show us our path and destination.
The Second Israel Should Awaken
Christians today are the second foundation of Israel. Christians of the world today should awaken. They should awaken to the fact that they are the second Israel. Then, even if they suffer untold tribulations here, when the one day comes, they will be able to take pride in themselves under the power and authority of Heaven. This is the day of the Second Advent, which they long for.
What should the second Israel of the world today do? When the Israelites passed through the wilderness, they were divided into tribes. Which group do you, the second Israelites, belong to? You have to understand this. You have to understand to which group you belong.
There are twelve pearl doors in Heaven, and on each of those twelve doors there is a name plaque of one of the twelve disciples. Hence, you have to understand which denomination you belong to and which tribe your denomination belongs to. The second Israelites lost the tribes. This is much like the time of wandering in the wilderness. This is such a time. You will soon encounter a time when a people like the Amalekites will attack you. You will have to fight a life or death battle. The two great camps are in confrontation, and one camp is attacking and marching forward. Heaven does not strike first. When the day of striking comes, they will strike on the level of ideology, heart, mind and in life. They will invade and strike us from the direction opposite to the origin.
We must wake up and renew our determination. The second Israelites of the world must unite. If we fight among ourselves over our position and group as the twelve disciples of Jesus did, we will be defeated. Such a time will come.
The Israelites formed twelve tribes under the leadership of Moses and cultivated a strong spirit of the people, honoring Moses and God. In the same way, in Jesus' time there should have been a formation of groups for the purpose of serving the Messiah. If that had been accomplished, Jesus would not have died. They lost their structure and were separated. Taking separate paths and working without coordination and unity will lead to defeat. Isn't this so?
God Who Came to Us through the Prophets and Saints and We Who Are Seeking God
God came to us and taught us in the following way: He said that He was the father of individuals, families, people and the world. As long as a people possessed a father, they all had the same father. As long as the world had a father, the world had the same father. This is what God wants.
God came to us. He came to each one of us, prisoners in Satan's sovereignty. However, even after raising up Abraham as the father of faith, God could not share all that He wanted to tell us. Although He raised up a family, He could not tell them all He wanted. Although he chose Moses to lead the people, He could not reveal all He wanted to. Although He sent Jesus, He could not convey all that He wanted to at that time. He could not. It is written clearly in the Bible that He could not speak all that He wanted to.
Why is this so? Jesus represented the God of the world and of the universe and all of Heaven and earth. He could not accomplish this mission without a foundation. Thus, Jesus said that he will return in the Last Days.
Please reflect upon yourselves. You owe an historical debt.
To instruct you and teach you, Heaven came to your people and sent prophets countless times. Do you understand this?
What did Jesus bring with him? Jesus came with the desire to elevate all people as the children of God and to judge Satan's world. He came to build a garden of happiness as the King of Kings, centering on the Father. He came with this desire, situation and heart of love. Have you ever had such a desire? Have you ever experienced such a situation? Have you ever felt such a heart? If you have not, then you cannot avoid judgment.
Therefore, we should not call out, "God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob. God the Father who called Moses and the prophets of the past, Father whom Jesus called upon!" We should pray, "God of Abraham, God of Jacob, God of Moses and God of Jesus! Please be my God." God should not be the God of someone else. He must be our own God. This is what we must do.
The time that we call out to the historical God has passed. Thus, the God of the past must have a relationship with us and the God of the future must have a relationship with us. You have to build a relationship in which you can say, "God of the past, isn't this the current situation? God of the present, isn't this the situation? God of the future, isn't this the situation? Isn't this Your desire?" and God will say, "Yes."
To do this, first we have to understand that we live in Satan's world. You are the descendants of Satan. You are prisoners of war captured not by God's side but by Satan's side. The Savior is the chief communications representative on the world scale who has the responsibility to bring you back. The "Savior" means that he will save you. The Savior is the person with the mission to save all the prisoners of war. He encourages them and goads them to fight. For this reason, it is written that Jesus came not to bring peace to the world but to provide weapons and provoke battles. Yet are the battles being fought or not? Please examine this carefully.
The Tactics of Heaven to Restore Satan's World
We are the people who should go before God. We are the sons and daughters of Heaven, part of God's family, heavenly couples and heavenly brothers and sisters. Yet what is our current situation? We lost our brothers and sisters. We are pitiful people who do not have parents, families, citizens and partners. These are what we must restore. We have to recover them.
When we seek them, we have to do so through our minds. Heaven comes to us through our minds. Heaven knocks on the doors to our minds and enters. For six thousand years of history, Heaven has instilled in us the feeling, "This is not how I should be; I have to escape from this world." The six- thousand-year history of war is the repetition of fights between those who represent goodness and those who represent evil. Human history has been a history of war.
In the beginning, it may seem that evil people strike and prevail over good people, but when good people are struck, they multiply. When they die, they multiply. The condition in Heaven allows three people to be recovered when one person is struck. For this reason Christianity is struck first in any nation. God's tactic is to send His beloved sons and daughters to Satan's world and let them suffer through beatings and death. In exchange for their suffering, He takes back a comparable amount from Satan's world. Good people never strike first. For the same amount that they are struck, they make a claim from Satan's world. This is the tactic of Heaven. This is the reason that the history of Christianity until today has been a history of martyrdom and blood.
In history those who strike first always lose. Look at the World Wars. In the First and the Second World Wars, the side that struck first lost. In the third World War, the side which strikes first will also lose. This is why even in an individual's life, it is said that one should persevere and restrain oneself; those who persevere will be blessed. One is to take the beating and persevere. This is because when you endure, you will rise up one day.
God has been enduring through all manner of grief. Even when He was accused by Satan during the six thousand years, He was not able to alleviate His indignation and sorrow. There will come a time when God will empathize with you and say, "You are also bitter; you must belong to My side."
For this reason the religious world today tells us to endure. They tell us to believe and persevere. They tell us to be meek, obedient and sacrificial. Why? When we do so, the time will come when we will rise up.
Because Heaven's tactic is to be hit first before taking things back, Jesus prayed as he was being struck. He did not even want to violate the laws of Satan's world. If he had considered the people his enemies, he would have been violating the laws of Satan's world. Such have been God's tactics.
We have to understand this. You who are here today should understand that each of you is a son or daughter of God and a citizen of the heavenly kingdom. God sought you many times in history. You have to understand that you are members of the family in the heavenly kingdom. Moreover, you have to understand that you are the sons and daughters of God's direct lineage. We have to become these sons and daughters, members of the heavenly family, people and citizens.
We have not understood God. God of the past, present and future came to us for our own sake, yet we did not know that God came to us with the hope that we would become His true sons and daughters. God is truly miserable. Did you know that God sought you?
Now that we look back, we find that we have a responsibility to our Father. Although God has exerted Himself for six thousand years on earth, has there been a person who can be proud of himself eternally before Satan and not be attacked by Satan's world? There has not. There has not been a family about whom God could say, "This family is my family," or a people about whom God could say, "This people is my people," and whom Satan could not attack. There has not been a land which God could claim, "This is My land."
This is the situation God is in. Then who should do this work? Since human beings fell, human beings should do this work. We should say, "Father, my home is Your home, and this home never allows Satan in. It will never allow him." However, is there a home which can make that statement?
To Become Patriots of Heaven
Are we going to betray the God who came seeking for us in the past and in the present, the God who came to us on the level of a people, a nation, and the world? Are we going to betray Him or be loyal to Him? We can only choose one of these two.
For this reason it is written that the sheep and goats will be separated. To become patriots, you have to understand what it means to be indignant and grievous. You have to understand the bitter indignation of the Father: "My Father was grieving in the past for this reason and in the present for that reason. The Father of the future is in such a position."
Now we must unite. Since there are no citizens of Heaven who are seeking others, we should raise our flag high and gather the citizens of Heaven at the risk of our lives.
When we think of God, who does not have heavenly people, heavenly tribes, heavenly families, heavenly sons and daughters or heavenly parents, we cannot raise our heads. Human beings cannot raise their heads before God. What we have to understand here is that we are too shameful to raise our heads before Heaven. We thought that the brothers in our homes were our own brothers, yet that turned out not to be true. We thought that the Heaven and earth in which we live is the nation that we should live in, yet that is not true. We thought that the people we are in communication with are our friends. Yet that was not true.
From this perspective, the words that Jesus spoke were appropriate. He spoke all the words that he could speak to human beings before he died. Although he spoke all the words that he could, the people did not understand them. Looking at this Jesus mourned. Jesus who came for humanity abandoned his people and left those who opposed him and prayed in tears before Heaven in the mountains.
If there are sons and daughters who possess a desire to serve the will with their bodies and minds and who dash toward the Father head on, in other words, if there are those who run on behalf of the people, tribes, brothers and children, God will hold onto them and mourn. When Mary Magdalene tried to hold onto the resurrected Jesus, he told her not to hold him because she was not in touch with these principles.
Humanity in the past could not run toward God head on. Not one person transcended the position of a people, of tribes and brothers and stood in the position of children and called the Father their own. Because Jesus fulfilled this responsibility in the course of history, he could become the Savior. Nevertheless Jesus had to die in a situation where God could recognize his victory. For this reason, Jesus has to return to the earth to complete the purpose of victory over Satan in the universe and Heaven and earth. Would it be all right, then, for him to come on the clouds?
We have to understand the time now. We have to understand ourselves. We are locked inside a prison of many layers. How much would God long for a free Heaven and earth, for a place where our citizens can live, where our brothers and sisters can live, where our parents can live, and where our sons and daughters can live?
As God related with human beings for six thousand years, He never forgot even for one minute that world of the heart. We did not know this, but now we have to understand it. After we understand it, we should run toward Heaven and dash forward head on. People must emerge who can represent humanity and run toward the one day when everything in Heaven and on earth can rejoice and give blessings.
This is the purpose of our faith. Do you want to believe and go to Heaven? Do you think you can go to Heaven just because you want to? When you go to a government agency and go through the registration process, you have to repeat the whole process if you get one word wrong. Yet do you think that you can just slide inside the gates of Heaven? That will never be. You cannot enter without having fulfilled certain conditions. You can enter Heaven only after going through some processes of the heart. Because the world of the heart transcends time and space, there is no progress and regression. There are no concepts and forms. There, it is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and eternity.
God's Desires and Love
The God of love works based on love. So what should we do? We have to be able to feel ourselves to be citizens and to learn to love the citizens of Heaven. We should learn to love the people of Heaven. We should learn of our brothers and sisters of Heaven. We should love the family members of Heaven. We should love the children of Heaven as our own selves. Desires and situations may pass away, but love will remain. We have to understand this.
What is God's desire? Do you think that God's desire is to send faithful followers of Jesus to Heaven and put crowns on their heads? That is not true. God wants to open their hearts and love them. Heaven and earth will rejoice when God can say, "Although I have suffered much, because of the joy of meeting you, I can forget all the suffering. Since all I desired has been realized, all beings of Heaven and earth should rejoice as I rejoice over my sons and daughters."
Has God ever seen such a day? If He had, would we be experiencing fear due to Satan? Would we be experiencing the fear of being victims of Satan's evil tactics? The day should come when the Father can forget everything and welcome His sons and daughters with both arms, shedding tears of joy and sorrow, boasting, "Satan, look at my son. I have taken back the son you did not want to let go. All people, look at My son. He is My son who was opposed and persecuted." God wants to find this son and boast about him. Satan and all things will also recognize his value.
For this reason we should have a reciprocal relationship with Heaven. The place where we enter into a relationship of love with the Father, where we can disregard our prestige, honor and situation is a place where we can say that Father is in me and I am in the Father and not know the difference between the Father and ourselves. Only when we can eliminate sorrow in such a situation, cultivate a heart of joy, and establish new laws of Heaven can an ideal world come to this earth.
Only when a movement which can represent this task appears on the earth can God establish a victorious foundation in providential history. Otherwise, God will be a failure. Paul once said that faith, hope and love are always present, yet the most important of the three is love.
What is God's love? It is not something hanging in the air. If you were to go abroad and see your own people being beaten and persecuted, you would be enraged as if you yourself were suffering the blows. Similarly, when we observe the people who are locked inside the prisons of Satan's world, we should feel, "These people are our own people. Our own people are being trampled upon. Our people are suffering inside the iron bars of Satan." God is seeking for those who pray to Heaven to break open the iron fences: "Father, please give me strength. Father, please be with us. We are the Father's people, the Father's direct descendants, members of the Father's family, and the Father's sons and daughters." Heaven's desire is to find these sons and daughters.
God's desire is to meet these sons and daughters. God wants to share His situation with these sons and daughters. God's deepest desire is to eternally love these sons and daughters without being accused by Satan. This is God's very desire. God's heart rests upon human beings. When we realize this, we will finally come to understand that it was for our sake that God called Abraham and Moses. It was for us that the Jews confronted a miserable fate and that Jesus came and will come again.
When we meet as brothers and sisters with the same beliefs and goal, we should be able to shed tears over the difficulties that each of us have gone through. Have you ever had such a profound experience with other members?
After the liberation of Korea on August 15th, when the Korean people did not have enough to eat, material concerns did not matter to us. Even when we were hungry, we shared food and rejoiced in the times we spent together. We must usher in the day when we can honor God in joy and the Christians of the world can embrace one another and sing in celebration of liberation. This is the hope God cherishes.
What Should We Understand?
Christianity will fade away unless an internal movement appears to shoulder difficulties and support one another with the belief that we are brothers and sisters and one human race, the citizens and family of Heaven. It will follow in the footsteps of Judaism. It will face the same fate as the Israelites who fell down in the wilderness.
Who should uphold the providential will of the people? If Christians do not recognize this mission, foreigners or members of another faith will surely shoulder it and realize the blessings of Christianity. Providential history never warns arrogant and overconfident people with words of guidance. Human beings are to follow the providence; the providence is never steered by human beings, nor does it ever follow them.
Hence, we should give our best and pour out all of our strength to recognize each other as the heavenly citizens, people, family and brothers and sisters. We should yearn for the heavenly sovereign, the ruler of Heaven. This is the time. This is God's hope. This is the nation that God wants to convey His will through. This is the ideal world God wants to love.
Even if we do not fully understand this, we should understand that we are God's people. We should know that we are God's kinsmen and families. We will meet courageous sons and daughters. Those who understand this truth understand God while on earth. Jesus said, "Whoever says to others that they know me, I will recognize them before God."
What do you want to understand by coming here? You should understand the desires and goals of God and understand that we are His people. You have to understand that God is in anguish and is desperately trying to liberate people from imprisonment in Satan's world.
Prayer
Father, we have learned that Your desire does not rest in Heaven. Your situation is not focused upon Yourself. The heart of Heaven is not Yours. How much have You longed for Heaven's desires, situation, and heart to be with the past, present and future? We who did not understand this are traitors and rebels.
Please help us realize how we are enslaved inside the iron fences of Satan. Please allow our calling upon You to be manifested in Heaven and on earth. Please connect the hearts of those who are gathered here to Your heart.
When this is realized before the people and the world, we know that joy will fill all of Heaven and earth. We have learned that we cannot build this ideal world unless we can long for the people, brothers and sisters, our family members and children and shoulder the cross in our battles.
We sincerely pray that You will raise us up as sons and daughters who can fight every day with unbounded, infinite animosity toward Satan's world.
We hope that we can clearly understand our own situation and the direction that we should head in based on the words You have given us today. We pray that You will guide us to become sons and daughters whom You can recognize and who can understand You. We prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.
